Re: Has the UK gone totally insane?
 

I had a urine test at eight o'clock this morning. My Columbian doctor sent me for one. I don't claim Nada and pay enough taxes in the UK for several benefit scroungers to live on lager and dope without ever having to take such a test.

They would fail every time. I hope I don't.

Re: Has the UK gone totally insane?
 

Just a thought about the UK authorities claiming ppls property or other assets to pay for their care in later life, I wonder what the situation is for those who are still officially UK residents but own property abroad ?

Can the powers that be in the UK get their grubby hands on that as well or can it be safely willed to family members, subject to Spanish taxes of course ?

Re: Has the UK gone totally insane?
 

Only for those people who retire AFTER the date of introduction of the proposed £140 per week pension - that will be even more unfair and divisive.

Re: Has the UK gone totally insane?
 

but it is said that £140pw is a single standard flat rate - no extras, no topups, etc

I had thought that the idea was to make it fairer to all

I will sit back and watch with interest from within the EU rather than following a dream where my current pittance is frozen for ever.

Re: Has the UK gone totally insane?
 

In my opinion no more unfair or divisive than public sector pensions

Almost all changes made by the state whether it be taxation, or benefit payments are going to seem to be unfair to some. Every time there is a budget it is fairer to some people than others. If bankers bonuses were taxed at 75% you and most of the rest of the country would probably say great but would it be fair? I do not believe so and I dislike the City institutions with a passion.

Also the older pensioners will still be entitled to a guaranteed minimum income.

At least people who have saved and have relatively small pension pot will see the benefit

I am all for fairness but what I see as fair you may not as is clear from other posts that have been made by us on this and other threads.

Re: Has the UK gone totally insane?
 

I am sure that someone retiring on todays basic pension will be quite happy to live next to someone who retires in a couple of years time on the new Super Pension at £140, no anger, no animosity, especially if that individual has only just managed to scrape under the 33 year bar.

Re: Has the UK gone totally insane?
 

But they are also waiting longer for that pension.

I do have sympathy for the small group of women who have been particularly hard hit by the accelerated programme in increasing the retirement age and think that should be addressed.

Re: Has the UK gone totally insane?
 

What I don't understand about the Government's expressed intention to pay the new flat rate pension only to those who retire after the date of introduction (and I will be one of them, so I have no personal axe to grind), is that if they claim this is to be introduced because it is fairer and will be much cheaper to administer than the present system of means-tested pension credit and other top-ups, why would it not be cheaper to move all existing pensioners to the new rate at the same time?

My OH will be one of those who is likely to miss out very narrowly if this goes ahead - he is due to reach 65 in November 2014 and the likely date for the introduction of the new flat rate pension is April 2015. He has paid NI contributions for more years than I did, he will have less income from occupational pension schemes than I will, yet I am likely to get a £140 state pension whilst he receives less than £100. To my mind, that's a very strange kind of fairness indeed.

But why am I surprised, this is coming from a Government who opted to make a single earner household earning £44,000 a year pay higher rate tax, whereas a couple could earn £43,000 each and neither of them pay tax at the higher rate. Marvellous.

Re: Has the UK gone totally insane?
 

First of all April 2015 because that is a couple of months before the planned date for the General Election ( cynical ? moi ? )

Your pension statement only re-iterates and confirms the discrepancy I highlighted earlier in this thread. But as with the current system, there will always be those who cannot get by - especially if the price of alcohol increases before then.

The taxation discrepancy is one that has been there for decades, since one or other scrapped the Married Mans Allowance (in the interest of fairness).

Another tax allowance withdrawn was Mortgage Tax Relief. This to encourage people to buy their own home (so they could be sold off to pay for care later in life ??)

There will always be anomolies in the tax regime, winners and losers, just that nowadays people are more financially\politically aware of their rights and go for it.

Re: Has the UK gone totally insane?
 

I think you are making the basic error of thinking that you (or any of us) matter.

The government would sell you for soup if it suited them.

Re: Has the UK gone totally insane?
 

When the government use the term fair it really means you had better watch your back as we are going to take your eyes out!

Re: Has the UK gone totally insane?
 

That's why the term "Trust me!" is known as business foreplay.

Re: Has the UK gone totally insane?
 

Re: Has the UK gone totally insane?
 

I thought was what men said to women
live and learn

Re: Has the UK gone totally insane?
 

well the fluffy bunnies let her in, knowing she was pregnant, put her through all the tests, checkups etc. without considering how she was paying for her stay in the country. As it is her "human right" to give birth she would be allowed to have them wherever she wanted, perhaps believing they would gain some rights by being born in the UK.

Whatever the cost of her stay in the Uk it should be openly deducted from the monies paid to Nigeria in aid.

and all in a country that cannot afford to provide proper care for its elderly. Perhaps that is what the problem is - fluffy bunnies do not gain any facebook points for the elderly, only young mothers.